Jolla was formed in late 2011 from a number of former Nokia Engineers who had been working on a number of Linux-based operating systems and handsets (including the Nokia N9). Just over two years later, their first handset (the self-titled Jolla) shipped with their Sailfish OS. I’ve been using the Jolla handset since mid-December, and it’s time to look at the handset in some more detail.

Reviewing the Jolla handset does put me in a quandary. As I discussed in my first impressions piece at the end of 2013 (which you can read here), the Jolla handset is a work in progress. While the hardware is fixed, the full functionality is not available or addresses yet by the operating system. The Jolla’s OS (Sailfish OS) is the key reason to buy this handset, and it still requires a lot of work to bring it up to modern UI standards in terms of flow, connectedness, and ease of use.

So the first point to note from this review should be clear, but let me stress it. The Jolla handset is a work in progress. Do not buy this handset if you are looking for something that ‘just works’. It’s not yet a platform that can return Finland to the top of the smartphone sales chart. But it is a handset that Finland should be proud of. It has shipped, it broadly works, and there is a feeling that Jolla the company is constantly at work to improve their handset every day.